Muni Elections Sure to Get Nasty This Season

We're just a little over a month away from the Municipal Election Primaries, and voters are just now waking up and taking a look at the races for Indianapolis Mayor and City-County Council. It could get quite interesting.

On the Democratic side, you have incumbent Joe Hogsett. He's got a gaggle of opponents which includes longshots like community activist Larry Vaughn and perennial candidate Bob Kern among others. Also opposing him is State Representative Robin Shackleford. Shackleford, a veteran lawmaker, is making the rounds touting her legislative experience as her inside route to success on the 25th floor of the City-County Building. Hogsett is out talking about his efforts to rein in crime and the city's crumbling infrastructure which, let's face it, had been largely neglected for years under previous administrations, R and D.

Over on the GOP's side of the aisle there are also a handful of candidates, but it appears that the two leading candidates have different backgrounds. One one hand, you have the sometimes controversial and never-quiet attorney and radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz pitted up against the quiet but extraordinarily wealthy businessman and former City-County Councillor Jefferson Shreve. Shreve has already spent a chunk of change on cable and over-the-air TV ads which specifically go after Mayor Hogsett's record. Shreve has experience on the Council, but he was largely an anonymous backbencher in the GOP caucus. 

This General Election season will be a huge referendum on Democratic Party rule of Indianapolis. The Dems have a huge majority on the City-County Council and sit in the Mayor's Office, so it's easy to pit every ill that the city has experienced, rightly or wrongly, on the Dems. Hogsett is trying to turn back the "third term jinx" which has befallen incumbents like Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson. Greg Ballard flirted with running for a third term, but he ultimately declined. The only successful post-Unigov third termer was Bill Hudnut.

After redistricting and the way population has changed in Marion County, the Dems are probably going to lose a few seats on the City-County Council. It was just nearly impossible to draw 20 safe Democratic seats. 

I expect this race for Mayor to get nasty and VERY expensive over the next few months. It's something we haven't seen in years.

Mears Wins Prosecutor 500

Ryan Mears is the Marion County Prosecutor.

Earlier today, the man serving as Interim Prosecutor won the right to serve in that capacity through at least 2022 in a narrow vote over Timothy Moriarty, an advisor for Mayor Joe Hogsett. Politically and morally, I think Mears won this election on the first full day he was on the job as Interim Prosecutor.

The day after former Prosecutor Terry Curry announced he was exiting, Mears immediately made news by announcing that Marion County would no longer be prosecuting marijuana cases for amounts under one ounce. This made sense in a number of ways, but it also signaled that Mears didn't care about the GOP's or the FOP's reaction...that he was going to make his own call and stand on his own principles about these cases. Politically, I'm sure it caught Moriarty and probably everyone fairly flatfooted, and suddenly, he had to react to something his opponent in the race was proposing.

The last few weeks have not been, on the surface, a good show for the Marion County Democratic Party. Major names backed Moriarty. Joe Hogsett and André Carson were chief among them, and Mears had his own backers too...namely his former boss Terry Curry and Senator JD Ford.Mears had his own backers too...namely his former boss Terry Curry and Senator JD Ford. There was also this perception that the deck was being stacked in favor of one candidate. Local pundits like Abdul-Hakim Shabazz have written about it on his Indy Politics site. I've seen the sentiment, though, from grassroots Democrats, too. In the end, Mears' message carried the day.

I think the General Assembly needs to take a look at these countywide offices and perhaps make a change to allow all the voters to participate in a special election. It could be done in May or November along with regular elections to keep costs down. The only complicating factor would be that one year where there aren't elections, but that could be rectified too.

Regardless, I think Marion County got itself a good Prosecutor today. I wish him the best of luck. I also wish my friend Tim Moriarty the best. I think the day will come for him to serve our city and county in an elected capacity, too.